GIS Strategic Planning: A GIS Master Plan for the Public Works Agency of Qatar

Pursuing Excellence – A GIS Master Plan for the Public Works Agency of Qatar

The Public Works Agency of Qatar, Ashghal, is a long-time user of GIS technology.  Ashghal is responsible for the construction and maintenance of local parks, roads, and drainage systems, along with highways and public buildings such as mosques, schools, hospitals, and health centers for the entire country of Qatar. Ashghal has a number of methods to capture geospatial data involving numerous departments, contractors, and staff.  However, GIS use has been fragmented and agency leaders understood that they could benefit much more from GIS. In that regard, Ashghal elected to go out to bid for the creation of a Geospatial Master Plan.

Ashghal selected the world leader in GIS strategic planning, Geographic Technologies Group, and their Middle-East partner, Consilium.  Curtis Hinton, President of GTG, says, “We were excited to get this opportunity to work with Ashghal.  We had met some of their decision-makers at the 2018 Esri User’s Conference and had a chance to discuss the criticality of a good Strategic Plan. Our team knew that this was going to be a high-profile project and that a well-structured plan was imperative for the appropriate use of GIS within Ashghal.”

A focus of the plan was aligning the goals of Ashghal’s GIS program with that of the Ashghal and Qatar National Vision 2030. Mr. Hinton points out, “Qatar is a very progressive country.  With the football World Cup coming to Qatar in 2022, there is a flurry of construction and infrastructure improvements.  Capturing the wealth of residual geospatial data from these projects and ensuring staff and public had the best tools to consume this data was a must.”

The master plan identified major opportunities for the expansion of GIS throughout the agency and the public.  These opportunities included data enhancements, data enablement and visualization, creating a GIS hub internally and for the public, integration with existing systems, advanced technology such as above and below ground 3D, smart city technologies, and implementing the best tools from the Esri ecosystem for visualization and analysis. The Master Plan identified the need to realign geospatial governance, create key performance indicators to track performance, redesign the enterprise database, and implement automation tools.

Mr. Hinton notes, “Our team had to consider the national ecosystem and conducted workshops with all of the national ministries and other interested parties.  The sheer volume of information and number of stakeholders made for unique challenges.  However, a continual feedback loop and on-site presence allowed our team to create a showcase plan. The plan culminated in presentations to the executives and the President of Ashghal. The plan is now being used to create a number of projects and RFPs for the rapid implementation of the recommendations. Ashghal now has a plan to achieve geospatial excellence and be a world leader in the innovative use of GIS.”